Then Shall the End Come

I have been teaching a series about the end times.  As I have mentioned, Acts 2: 17, tells us when those last days would start.  

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh…”  
That prophecy was declared by the prophet Joel in the Old Testament and began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when the first disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues.  That is still going on today.

In Matthew 24 the disciples asked Jesus for a more precise and accurate sign of the last of the last days.  Not only did Jesus answer their request He gave them many signs that would lead up to that final sign.

People would come claiming to speak for Jesus and deceive many.  Wars and rumors of wars.  Nation rising against nation;  kingdom against kingdom.  Famines, pestilences and earthquakes in many places.

Persecution and imprisonment of believers.  Love of many waxing cold.  Iniquity abounding.  Yet Jesus said these would not be that precise and accurate sign of the end of the end.

Then in Matthew 24: 14, Jesus finally gives them the precise and accurate and final sign of the end.

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and THEN shall the end come.”

Wow!  No more subjectivity here.  No private interpretation of what Jesus is saying.  Then shall the end come.

We are living in such a time.  Jesus gave His disciples the commission to go to all the world and preach the Gospel.  They did a pretty good job of it.  However they only had the ability to reach a portion of the world.  They had limitations.

However today, technology had enabled us to declare the Gospel all over the world.  Cell phones, internet, television, radio and short wave radio and probably technologies I am not aware of.  We can reach everyone who has the desire to hear the Gospel.

Missionaries are going into areas never touched by mankind before.  The Gospel is being declared everywhere to all people even in their own languages.

We have seen all the signs of the end of the end.  Maybe we have not seen the persecution and imprisonment of believers in our country yet, but all over the world believers are being persecuted, imprisoned and even killed for their faith.

These signs given to us by Jesus were not meant to frighten us but to give us a hope.  Will Jesus find faith on the earth when He returns?  I believe He will as believers stand their ground and declare Jesus as Lord and Savior.  

- Pastor Jim